Re: Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough - Season 11

For clarity...Jennifer denies dance training, but she has been taking dance classes for exercise. Does this mean that she has been involved in dance steps during these dance classes for exercise?

It’s clear she is as limber as a 15 yo – and it takes consistent use of those muscles for a 50 yo to be able to maintain that. Just watching her do the splits and lean forward and basically touch her forehead on the floor in front of her is indication that she has kept up with her agility.

Re: Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough - Season 11

For clarity...Jennifer denies dance training, but she has been taking dance classes for exercise. Does this mean that she has been involved in dance steps during these dance classes for exercise?

Oh, please.

Surely most women of a certain age have taken an aerobics class or two. And I seriously doubt that the seventies dance steps done in aerobics have contributed at all to her DWTS dances.

Jennifer obviously has a natural musicality and ability to move with music. So it makes sense that she would enjoy aerobics type classes and/or it's modern incarnations. But for that to be considered dance training is ridiculous.

Re: Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough - Season 11

Surely most women of a certain age have taken an aerobics class or two. And I seriously doubt that the seventies dance steps done in aerobics have contributed at all to her DWTS dances.

Jennifer obviously has a natural musicality and ability to move with music. So it makes sense that she would enjoy aerobics type classes and/or it's modern incarnations. But for that to be considered dance training is ridiculous.

In my community aerobics classes are listed under exercise. Dance classes are a separate category.

Re: Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough - Season 11

Just about any class I have ever taken involves dance, to some extent.
Jennifer appears to have done a lot of pilates and yoga through the years.
That doesn't, IMO, make her a ringer for this show any more than it would make me a ringer.

Re: Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough - Season 11

Jennifer, has denied having any dance training but she has been taking dance classes for exercise.

She studied dance when she was at the Dalton School, though Jennifer claims not much.

From wikipedia about casting the film Dirty Dancing: Director Ardolino was adamant that they choose dancers who could also act, as he did not want to use the "stand-in" method that had been used with the 1983 Flashdance. For the female lead of Frances "Baby" Houseman, Bergstein chose the 26-year-old Jennifer Grey, daughter of the Oscar-winning actor and dancer Joel Grey of the 1972 film Cabaret who, like her father, was also a trained dancer.

I do think that dancing, like riding a bike or swimming, is a skill that stays with you. I had once a week tap and ballet lessons when I was 10-12 (an hour a week during the school year). I'm nearly sixty and still know the ballet positions, how to do various moves, and can do the first part of a tap dance routine to "Tea for Two". Jennifer obviously had more training than that to get the Dirty Dancing role.

I don't count anything she's done since as dance training and I think she's amazingly flexible and limber for her age. I do think she had an advantage coming in, but I'm not saying this competition is easy for her. I think she's working as hard as everyone else and her age and injury are disadvantages.

Re: Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough - Season 11

Hey, Jennifer's 50? Seriously? That is pretty darn OLD. Not dead, not worthless, but far beyond the physical peak of a female. I once ran a 10-mile race, and the lady who finished right in front of me was over 50. She was 30 years OLDER than me. I am very athletic, so seeing somebody of that age who actually out-competed me was extremely inspiring. In the same way, seeing Jennifer Grey move the way no other 50-yr-old lady can was incredible. On the dance floor, she doesn't seem older than anyone else.

Re: Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough - Season 11

I, too, am in awe of her ability at her age or any age. Though I have done a lot of athletics, I have NEVER been flexible and since most of the sports I do don't require it have even lost more flexibility. After a certain age, you really must keep up with every little thing you took for granted at one time. It does also tick me off that people older than me can do stuff like this, lol. Mostly because it makes me mad at myself!!! I find myself admiring Jennifer very much for how fast she can move and for how she can do the splits and the selling of the performance all near perfectly. She looks great with Derek. She seems to be the perfect size for him, he seems to move her effortlessly through the dances and I think they look great together. She has perfect proportion in her body which makes her even more attractive doing the moves and perhaps makes it a little easier to move and look graceful doing it. Some of the ladies look clumsy. But she looks perfect. I'm sort of proud of her, even with the whining, she has won me over.

Re: Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough - Season 11

Originally Posted by Tobi;4109805;

I, too, am in awe of her ability at her age or any age. Though I have done a lot of athletics, I have NEVER been flexible and since most of the sports I do don't require it have even lost more flexibility. After a certain age, you really must keep up with every little thing you took for granted at one time. It does also tick me off that people older than me can do stuff like this, lol. Mostly because it makes me mad at myself!!! I find myself admiring Jennifer very much for how fast she can move and for how she can do the splits and the selling of the performance all near perfectly. She looks great with Derek. She seems to be the perfect size for him, he seems to move her effortlessly through the dances and I think they look great together. She has perfect proportion in her body which makes her even more attractive doing the moves and perhaps makes it a little easier to move and look graceful doing it. Some of the ladies look clumsy. But she looks perfect. I'm sort of proud of her, even with the whining, she has won me over.

I would also imagine that since the accident left her neck weak, she has had to do certain exercises just to keep that area of her body from losing mobility. The fact that her body still looks so good at 50 is a side benefit, I guess.